MMO publisher NCsoft has confirmed that 70 employees at its Austin headquarters have been laid off as part of new plans to restructure the company. Initial reports suggested that NCsoft was being forced to reduce its staff following poor subscription figures for massively multiplayer titles City of Heroes and City of Villains.

One article on developer blog f13.net suggested that 90 per cent of tech staff and 75 per cent of QA testers were to be made redundant - figures which the publisher has since refuted in an official statement. Although NCsoft has yet to officially confirm which roles have been cut as part of the restructuring plans, the company is keen to point out that development on its forthcoming MMO, Tabula Rasa, is continuing as normal and that no other divisions have been affected.